Switch-stand.



where they UXiiTEYi) STATES PATENT QFFIQE.

FRED \Yl l.l.l .\.\l t)\\'. Ol IIILLBIRX, AND WILLIAM CHARLES KIDD, OF SUFFERN, NEW YORK,

ASSl' Xt iib' 'lt STANDARD EQL'llMENT COMPANY, OF MAHWAH, NEW JERSEY, A (OR- l'ttltA'll *X Hi NEW JERSEY.

SWI'I CHI-STAND Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 17, 1908.

Application filed December 31, 1907. Serial No. 408,335.

To all about it may coarrrn:

Be it known that we. Fin-1D Willi-in Sxow, a citizen of the i n'ited States, and a resident of llillhurn, in the county of Rockland and State of New York, and Wntun CHARLics liion, also a vitixen oi the United States, and a resident oi t utl'ernv in said county and Ttaiv. have invented certain new 1 and useful i:nprownients in Switch-Stands, of which t loll s. in; i a specification, rel erence hair had to iltk ac ompanying drawinesl'oriui art hotoll The iti'tl... a2 atiparticularly to improvenieuis in automatic \\'lit'll stands which permit a itch to he thrown hy the wheels ol a p a train and which at the same time i. (zit .Elilt oi' h ring operated h a yardinan r liliilillltlll through a handle.

()ne oi th ki l t'l i the invention has been to pr vide una-hanisni ol this sort in which ll ill itir Mr ltttltllitij the switch in its turned p ition and whit-h resist the movement of witrh iron: its turned position shall hi.- niw l alazz -ed in the stand so that the parts nia wor ex enl while at the same time it ha heen ought to avoid a construction in whit-h th e parts could reach a dead Center that is a point in which the witch would he partly thrown and would tend to remain in this part thrown or open position. It will he und rs ood that in these switch stands tlumean hauling to resist the auto- Inatie throw of 131. witch during the 'lirst part of its llnthliit'ill assist the throw ol the switch during: the second half ol' its movementand that the point where these means change fr m resist iu r to "assisting" means is tftliflrllli' a dead ce ter and that it is ext'renieh desirahle to id a ("Ulhsll'llt'iiUil in 'llltll flltfll point owur. .\lori' o\'er in a constriastion in whi h the resisting means are balanced with l'tspti't lo the rotating nieniher the ltli 'fllillill i hiih is resisted, that are syn:inetricall ai'iai'iged one on one side of the rotating nn-mh r and the other on the ppo ite sidioi the rotating n'rcmher. there is a itl lltll'Y toward the tornration o? a dead with. :,i il'Ulll the wry fact of the evenness oi It It}! inwd arrangement. that. it has htwn i..i -ult h retofore to [iii-Yule a n tructi n in whicn the/ rah vanlagi s a ir' htlltt'il arrangement our-ht be set trod without. the concmnitant disari vantages of dead renter points.

i V i i i l l l l i l said, rotating member.

In the present construction the resisting means, that is the resisting means during the iirst halt ot the throw and the assisting ineans during the last hall of the throw, are syn;- inetrically arranged or balanced, one on one side of the rotating ineniher, which moves with the switch when it is autoinatieall thrown, and the other on the opposite side of 'lhese means reeip-- rocate bark and forth dnrin the movements of the rotating ineniher and while the are in and near their limiting posit ions. llltll positions correspond to the limiting; positions of the switch. the are euidea. suhstaniiall in a straight line so as to he inrapahle oi any deflection, hut while the} are in r near an intermediate position. that is a position in which the switch is open, the are rapahle ol heing dellected and are detleeied. llt' toward one side and the other toward the other side of the central shai't, according to the direction in \Yltit'ii the rotating nieniher is moving. ()n this account it is inipossihle for the rotating nieniher to get upon a dead center heeause in each position these dellectml 1nenihers will tend to turn the rotating member in one direction or the other.

Another ohject oi the present invention has heen to adapt the stand [or use as a high stand or a low stand as may be desired, by the mere snhstitution of some of its parts, without interfering at all with the. other parts so that a greater part oi the stand may he made up and kept in stooh and sole with a set of parts which adapt it to he used as a high stand or with a set of parts which adapt it" for use as a low stand. l orthis purpose, the cover plate of the switch casing is made remoi-ahle and the rotating block and looking hlock are also made removable, it being ohvious too that any length of shaft may be employed.

The invention will he more hilly described in connection with. theaccompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1 is a iew partly in..eievation and partlf: in section oi a switel'i stand elllbodY- ing: the improvements. Fig. .2 is a. View in phin oi the interior of the switch casing with the cover late ren'io'ved, and, Fig. 3 is a View in vertical section oi' a cover plate and rotating hlock for ahigh stand, the stand illustratt-al in Fig, 1 being a. low stand.

Referring to Figs; 1 and 2, the shaft or ti o spindle a is provided upon its bottom with suitable means I; for connection thereto of a switch or switch operating rod (not shown). This shaft extends upwardly through the switch casing c which houses the resisting means presently to be referredto, a rotating block dbeing rovided around the same near the lower en thereof which is rounded to permit it to be freely rotated so far as the block (1 is concerned. The block at rests upon a seat a in the cover plate j which is provided tov forrnthe top portion of the casing c, and

is secured thereto in such a manner as tobe removable therefrom at pleasure. Above the block d the shaft a is providied with a squared portion upon which a s eeve g is firmly secured. To this sleeve a handle it is pivoted which, through the medium of links '0,- engages, so as to be capable of lifting, a locking block 7c which is provided'with a squared portion Z adapted to engage in a corresponding square recess formed in the top of the block d. The block it carries a projection m through which a padlock or some other device may be passed in order to lock the handle it from being lifted. It will be clear from this construction that when the parts are the position illustrated in Fig. l the switch cannot be turned except by turning the block (1 but that when the handle h is lifted so as to throw the locking block 1:

up from its engagement with the block (Z, the switch may be moved Without necessarily rotating the block (1.

The block (Z constitutes what have been referred to hereinbefore as the rotatable means which are acted upon' by the resisting means within the casing c to regulate the -in housings 0 secured upon the ends of rods 1), springs 7* being provided within the casing c for normally pressing the rollers inwardly against the block 'd;

It will be obvious from Fig. 2, that, as the block (1 turns from the position' there illustrated the rollers will be forced outwardly and that the movement of the block (1 from one of its limiting positions to the other limiting p'osition'will cause the reciprocation of the rollers and rods, the springs 1* always tending to press the rollers inwardly so thatduring substantially the first half of the movement of the block d, they will resist the rotation thereof and during the last half of the movement of the block at they will assist the rotation thereof. During the reciprocation of'the rollers, they are guided by guides 8, which may comprise rollers as illustrated or some other suitable form of guide, and 'it.

will be. noted that the ends of the housings 0 are beveled as at t, this beveling inFig; be ing somewhat exaggerated for clearness of illustration. hen the parts are in one of the limiting positions of .the switch, that is when the switch is against one of the rails and the parts are in the position shown in could be deflected to one side or the other,

the switch, as is obvious, would be very insecure against even a moderate force which might be exerted by. an unauthorized person or from some-cause or other. When how.

ever the switch is moved automatically so as to cause the block (I to rotate in the direction of the arrow and when some movement of this block has been effected in this direction to cause the rollers 72 to be moved outwardly to some extent thereby bringing the beveled portions t of the housings 0 in line with the guides s, the block (1 as will be obvious, will tend to deflect the rollers and their housings, the one toward one side as indicated by the arrow thereon and the other toward the other side of the central shaft (1 its indicated by the'arrow thereon. This deflection will absolutely prevent the existence of anv dead center during the rotation of the bloch (I, for' it will be obvious'that until the projecting portions of the block (1 at the corners thereof have both passed or traversed the rollers '21 in the rotation of the block (1, the rollers will tend to resist the rotation and tend to push the block (Z back to its first position, whereas when these projections have passed the rollers 12, the rollers .will assist the further rotation and will force the block (I to its other limiting position.

Fig. 3 illustrates clearly how a new blockand cover plate can be substituted for the block and cover plate illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. In these figures the cover platef is provided with a long .or high seat upon which a correspondingly lengthened. block d is seated. It is unnecessary to amplify the description in this particular, as it will be readily understood without further description.

It is clear that the objects of the invention may be realized in other'structures which maydepart from those lllustrated and described herem without avoiding the spirit of the invention, and the latter is accordingly not limited to the structure shown and de-.

scribed.

Ye claim as our invention:

1. in a switch stand, the combination of means to resist the movement of a. switch, said means being capable of being deflected the switch from being left open but to be firmly held from deflection while in a limiting rotatable block, a sprin for the purpose speci position to maintain the switch in its proper position.

2. In a switch stand, the combination of a rotatable block, reciprocating means to resist the rotation of the block, means the reciprocating means to be deflected when the block is in an intermediate position in order to prevent the block from remaining in an intermediate position and to hold the reciprocating means firmly from deflection when the block is in a limiting position.

3. In a switch stand, the combination of a actuated roller to resist the rotation of the b ock, a beveled housing for the roller, andfiguides for the housing 4. In a switch stand, the combination of a rotatable block, rollers upon opposite sides of the block, said block having recesses in which the rollers engage, springs to press the rollers a ainst the block, beveled housings for each oi; the rollers, and guides cooperating with the housings for the purpose specified.

5. In a switch stand, the combination of means to connect the stand to a switch, a rotatable member connected to said means, a block on said member, means to fasten the block to and unfasten the member, means to resist the rotation of the block, and guides for the resisting means, said uides and resisting means cooperating to ho d the block in its turned position but ermitting the resisting means to b deflected when the block is partly turned in order to prevent the block from remaining partly I turned and the switch from being left in an open position.

6. In a switch stand, the combination of a vertical shaft, means to connect the shaft with a switch, a block upon the shaft, means to fasten the block to the shaft so that it will rotate therewith, spring actuated rollers on opposite sides of the block to resist its rotato permit end of the shaft,

I plate and block of block from said tion, beveled housings for the rollers, and guides cooperating with the housings-for the purpose specified.

7. In a switch stand, the combination of a vertical shaft, means to connect the shaft with the switch, a switch stand casing including a removable cover plate, a block extending through the cover plate and around the lower and means within the casing acting against the lower end of the block to resist the rotation thereof, whereby the cover plate and block may be removed and a cover a different size substituted therefor to vary the height of the switch stand without interfering with the other parts.

8. In a switch stand, the combination of a verticle shaft, means to connect the shaft with the switch, a casing having a removable cover plate, a "block extending through th cover plate and surrounding the lower end of the shaft, means within the casing to resist the rotation of the block, means upon the shaft to fasten the block to the shaft and un fasten the block from the shaft, whereby the cover plate and block may be removed and. a cover plate and block of a different size substituted therefor to vary the height of the switch stand without interfering with the other parts.

9. In a switch stand, the combination of a flat horizontal casing including a removable cover plate, connections for a switch, means around the shaft and extending through the casing and means within the casing to cooperate with said means to resist the rotation of the shaft and the movement of the switch.-

This specification signed and witnessed this 31 day of October, A. 1)., 1907.

FRED INILLIAM SNOIV. IVILLIAM CHARLES KIDD.

Signed in the presence of- SCIIUYLER C. PEw, JEAN S. MAoGRnooR.

a vertical shaft with operative 

